Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 209: STOP making these *TEN* Training Mistakes

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

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Welcome in everybody to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga. And in today's episode, we are going to discuss 10 workout mistakes that you need to avoid in your training. These are mistakes that many lifters make, many fitness enthusiasts make, athletes make them, trainers make them. In fact, I have made many of the mistakes on this list. And that is how I kind of created this list thinking to myself, hey, what are some of the things that I've made mistakes with, that clients have made mistakes with, that I've learned from that I can share so that my listeners, so that my audience can kind of cut to the front of the line. I use this analogy a lot of cutting in line, whereas like the longer you've been in the game, the further you get to the front of the line. Theoretically, at the front of the line, you've got things all figured out. But when you make a mistake, sometimes you got to go back to the line or the end of the line rather and relearn and start from scratch. And if you find a coach or a podcast or a blog or any, let's call it creator or educator in the fitness health arena who's

willing to share with you the mistakes that they've made, you'll oftentimes kind of get to quote unquote cut in line or get in line with them where they're at. Now, your results and your progress might not be where they are at, but you don't have to tread the same tracks. You don't have to make the same mistakes. That's one thing I'm really, really big on, is I look back at all the mistakes I made as a lifter. I look back at all the misinformation that I fell for when I first started training,

all of the bullshit, all of the baloney, all of the malarkey that really set me back or at least slowed me down more than I would have liked to have been slowed down at the infancy of my training career. So you don't have to make these same mistakes, which to me is pretty encouraging because, again, I don't want to see anybody take any more time to reach their health and fitness goals than they have to. I want you guys to be happy. I want you guys to be healthy. And I want you guys to see success. So without further ado, here are 10 mistakes to avoid making in the gym right now. Number one, do not skip sleep for training sessions

too often. Now, what do I mean by this? I mean, do not make the mistake that I made of militantly and religiously sticking to a training time that robs you of a substantial amount of sleep frequently if you have another option. Here's what I did. Here's what not to do. When I was in high school and I started working out my junior senior year, I was really, really in to the kind of badge of honor that comes with waking up early, getting to the gym before school. And I would wake up every day at 4 a.m. I would take a cold shower.

I would go to the gym. I would train for an hour and a half. And I would work on my shooting and ball handling for basketball. Then I would go to school. I would be in class from 8 to 2. And then I would go to practice for one of many sports, come home, do homework, sleep five to six hours, and repeat all the time. During seasons, during sports seasons where we would have away games that involved traveling and we wouldn't

get home till 11.30 or 12 at night, I would still stick to that schedule. And I left so many gains on the table. One, I was training way beyond what I could recover from. My testosterone was straight plummeted from being like viciously overtrained in both sports and recreational bodybuilding, what I was doing at the time for fun, right? Like the demands of being in my season paired with the demands of, uh, you know, just the general demands of being an athlete, right? Being busy. These things did not work particularly well for me. I think I left a lot of gains on the table. And I think that there's so many ways if I could go back, I would change things. I would train less. I would train later in the day and I would make sure that I was getting that sleep because

I did not know at all how big of a deal sleep was for maintaining my gain. So I was getting four to six hours a night training six days a week when if I could go back, I would get eight hours, nine hours of sleep even and train three to four days a week. I would have made much better progress. And I hate that I spent a full two years doing that. I even did that my first year of undergrad. And while I am busy, while I do have a lot on my plate, I find that I can usually set aside at least one hour, four to five days a week to train my ass off with the knowledge I have and get a really high quality workout. And I only wake up early to train two days a week now.

And I'm not saying don't wake up early to train. I'm saying don't wake up early to train every day or don't wake up early to do cardio every day if your sleep is shit and you do have the luxury of finding another time to fit that session. That sleep really, really does matter. Okay, a number two mistake. This is a big one, and this is nutritional, but it really plays into training. And it is do not go multiple hours on end without eating on a day where you have a session. Now, what am I saying? Typically here, you might find that professionals and fitness professionals now focus more on the aggregate of total calories and macros than when you time them. And that is very true. This is something we work with with our clients

at Core Coaching Method all the time saying, hey, look, I'm not saying you need to nail the exact timing of each macro and every calorie, but do a big, big, big service to yourself and hit your calorie total every day, your protein total every day, your carb total, and your fat total. And if you can do that reasonably, try to space them out accordingly to optimize performance. And for those of you who train hard, who lift a lot, spacing your protein out across multiple feedings should be more beneficial for muscle growth. It will help with satiety, which is good for fat loss. Spacing your carbohydrates out across the day is good for regulating blood sugar. You don't have all your carbs at one meal. You have a more stable and consistent blood sugar. If you're

training in the mid-afternoon, having a couple feedings of carbohydrate can make a difference. And be mindful of your fats. If you are having a meal 60 minutes before a workout, don't include a ton of dietary fat that might slow down the digestion of that meal and make it feel as though you're lifting with like an anvil in your stomach. day or a training day, you should be mindful about strategizing when it is that you're going to have those feedings, those protein feedings. That's really, really important. And I think that's a big, big deal. There were times in my training career where the only thing I was focused on was hitting a total amount of protein. Meaning like if I had a hundred grams to go at eight o'clock at night, I'm throwing four scoops of protein in a shaker, pounding it back and calling it good. I do not think that is good for your gains compared to spacing it out. I think you'll get more from being mindful of the timing. I think you'll get more from not going multiple hours on end without eating. And this includes those of you who are trying to lose fat and build

muscle. It's not just a general recommendation for building muscle. It's nice to have things spread out evenly so you don't fall too far behind. And for losing fat, unless you do particularly well with a fasting approach, which does work for many people, I find that going way too long between meals can lead to binges and can lead to experiences where you're going to actually overconsume because of like a rebound effect and a really substantial spike in your hunger. So worth paying attention to that. Okay. Number three, this is definitely the most embarrassing thing I've ever done with my fitness. I hate that I did this. I talk about it all the time because I want to prevent you guys from doing the same. And that is spending more on supplements than you spend on food. I remember early in my training career, I had like multiple

little side hustles, mowing lawns, baling hay, writing training programs for friends. This was like not my professional training career. This was like my post-pubescent teenage lifting career. I would do anything I could to earn a little bit of money and I would buy as much protein as I could at the store in the form of like meat and yogurt. I wouldn't pay too much attention to other things. I eat like a lot of bread and a lot of rice, very bro-y. But I would spend a disproportionately high amount of money on supplements. I would actually spend between $100 to $150 a month on food, which sounds crazy right now, especially with the cost of certain commodities and certain foods.

But back in like 2011, 12, 13, food just wasn't as expensive and supplements weren't either. In fact, like the price of supplements has even gone up. So all of these numbers probably don't necessarily line up right now, but they're proportional. The same would be true today. The numbers wouldn't be the same, but the philosophy or the underlying philosophy would be the same. I'd spend more on supplements and get less than I would on whole foods. I was focusing so much on pre-workouts, post-workouts. Should I take a testosterone booster? Should I take a fat burner? Should I take a myostatin inhibitor? I was so fucking hip to what was coming out. I used to go to bodybuilding.com every day, go to the top 50 supplements. I would look at anything that came out that was new. I'd read

about it. I could tell you every ingredient and every dosage in every single supplement on the market. My brain is weird like that. And I got like borderline addicted to looking at viewing, collecting, and purchasing supplements that did literally nothing for me. Here I am, supplements that did literally nothing for me. Here I am, eight years later, what do I take every day? Protein, I usually drink in some capacity every day, but I don't take it every day. Pre-workout, I take on occasion, caffeinated or stimulant-free, both from Legion. I love those two products from Legion, the protein and the pre-workout. Creatine, take that every day. Probiotic, take that every day. Zinc, magnesium, potassium, sodium. So one electrolyte supplement, LMNT, and a zinc tablet.

I take those things every day. That's a quarter of what I was taking six years ago when I was inundated and inundating myself, quite frankly, with marketing material from the supplement industry when I shouldn't be spending money on a trainer to tell me what the fuck to do and prevent me from making the mistakes I've mentioned already today. And two, that's money I probably could have been spending on food. And I see this a lot. People are in a rush to throw money at supplements, expecting and hoping that the more they take, the better their results will be. And that's just an unfortunate fallacy. the better their results will be. And that's just an unfortunate fallacy. There's very, very limited, very, very limited potential for supplements to enhance your physique, to enhance your fat loss in a way that's nearly as meaningful as spending the same amount of money on food, food preparatory equipment, whether that be different ways you can prepare your food,

different ways you can store your food. Don't be the person who's throwing a ton of money at supplements when you could also be doing the same for food and probably getting a lot farther. Hey guys, taking a break from the show to tell you about our amazing sports nutrition partner, Legion. Legion makes the best evidence-based formulas for sports performance, sports nutrition, recovery, and fat loss. I don't recommend many supplements. In fact, I think you can get the majority of the nutrition you need from a whole foods diet. But let's be honest, many of us are either on the go and need assistance, or quite frankly, we're not going to settle for average, and we want to get the absolute most we can out

of our training. So Legion is the company I go to for all of my supplement staples, whether it's creatine, which I get from their product Recharge, my protein that I get from either Whey Plus or Plant Plus, two of the best tasting proteins on the market. They come in a variety of flavors and they don't have a ton of fillers and gum. Just Whey made from grass-fed cows from Ireland and a plant protein blend with a fully comprehensive dose of amino acids. I like to take a pre-workout. Sometimes I like it with caffeine. Sometimes I like to enjoy coffee in the morning and have my pre-workout later without caffeine. Legion makes both. Both the pre-workout with caffeine and without come with a full dosage of clinically effective ingredients like beta-alanine,

betaine anhydrous, and L-citrulline to help you perform your best. They also make a phenomenal greens powder loaded with one of my favorite things, reishi mushroom, and a men's and women's multivitamin that contain a few different things that men and women might need for their unique physiology. So when you think of your vitamins, your fish oil, your pre-workout, your protein, all of the things that many of you take every single day. I'd encourage you to check out Legion. They have an amazing line, wonderful products, wonderful flavors, naturally sweetened, no dyes and colors. You can't go wrong. You can shop using the show notes below or by going to legionathletics.com and checking out using the promo code Danny. That will save you 20% and it will actually help you

get two times points towards future orders, which you can use the same as cash. Pretty cool, guys. So head over to legionathletics.com and check out using the promo code Danny to save on all your sports supplement needs. Back to the show. What's going on, guys? Coach Danny here, taking a break from the episode to tell you about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method, and more specifically, our one-on-one fully tailored online coaching program. My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for Core Coaching Method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming and we have app-based programming. But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with a coach like myself or a member of my coaching team, someone who is certified, somebody who has multiple years of experience working with clients in person, online, somebody who is licensed to provide a macro nutrition plan,

somebody who is actually good at communicating with clients because they've done it for years, whether that be via phone call, email, text, right? This one-on-one coaching program is really designed to give you all the support you need with custom training designed for you, whether you're training from home, the gym, around your limitations and your goals. Nothing cookie cutter here, as well as easy to follow macronutrition programs that are non-restrictive. You'll get customized support directly from your coach's email, or they'll text you, or they'll WhatsApp you. We'll find the communication medium that best supports your goals, as well as provides you with accountability in the expertise you need to succeed, as well as biofeedback monitoring,

baked-in accountability support, and all of the stuff that you need from your coach when you check in. We keep our rosters relatively small so that we can make sure you get the best support possible. But you can apply today by going over to corecoachingmethod.com, selecting the online coaching option. And if we have spots available, we'll definitely reach out to you to see if you're a good candidate. And if we don't put you on a waiting list, but we'll be sure to give you the best shot at the best coaching in the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my team today. What's going on guys? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered

with Train Heroic to bring app-based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my Home Heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells, or Elite Physique, which is a female bodybuilding-focused program where you can train at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming planned for a variety of different fitness levels. But what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do, the reps to do, exercise tutorials filmed by me with me and my team. So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific. So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely

free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the Core Coaching Collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. Number four is going to the gym without a plan or without a workout log. I cannot tell you how big of a difference it makes, guys, to follow a program, whether it's on your phone, whether it's when you print out, whether it's one on your app, there's a million ways to do it. You know, I do it different ways with my company specifically because people have different preferences, but the biggest thing is write something down, track it, chase numbers, chase occasional PRs, whether they're volume PRs, whether they're strength PRs, whether they're, you know, Hey, I got in today and I felt really good and I didn't want to go today. So that's a PR, you know, like rising to the occasion style,

you know, just find a way to track, log and audit and account for your training. I cannot say it enough. It is such a big difference maker. There is quite literally no singular thing in the gym that you could do logistically, not like considering how you train or who you train with, but there's no yoga pants, no gym tops, no AirPods, no playlist that will do for you what tracking your workouts will do. Please do that. Number five, pick your gym partners carefully. I know that that sounds like, eh, how important could that really be? It's really, really important. The best gym partner is a personal trainer, period. The second best gym partner is somebody who is slightly ahead of you, who knows quite a bit about fitness, who's always on time and consistent. Those are the two kinds of people you should be looking at for gym partners. who is flaky. You do not want a gym partner who is on again, off again. You do not want a gym partner who goes to three different gyms or goes to this class or that class. You want to select

if you're going to use a gym partner, which I do generally recommend, somebody who has similar goals, who is consistent, who is on time, who will hold you accountable. You do not need to be wasting your time scheduling lifts with friends, trying to make it social when they're just flaky. They're not going to show up. They're not going to be consistent. It will create frustration. It will create resentment. It will create animosity. What you need is somebody who is more consistent than you, more fit than you, who is where you want to be, or who at the very least is ready to be there to train, to work hard, and to hold you accountable on the days that you don't necessarily want to go. Okay, that is a huge, huge difference maker. Not enough people I think have trained long enough

to really know the value of a training partner, but it's a really, really great thing to have. Number six is skipping machine training. And I know what you're thinking, who skips machines? Machines are awesome. Most of you who have listened to this podcast or who follow my content, you know and you understand just how much I like to use machines. I feature machines for all of my one-on-one clients. They're in all my PDF programs. They're featured in all of our app programs. We love utilizing machines because they're phenomenal. They give you a lot of room to work with. They fill in so many gaps. The resistance profiles are super even, especially with things like cables. And now look, all machines

aren't created equal, but there's a lot of machine movements that are better than their free weight counterparts. And a lot of people have deitized free weights to the point where they put them so high on the pedestal that to do a machine work is almost an, a machine movement would almost be an indictment of the kind of regal, you know, kind of top of the pedestal, top of the podium, if you will, position of machines. It's a challenge to, to free weights, which are, you know, nothing's better than free weights, dumbbells and barbells. That's not true. There's a lot of machine and cable movements that are substantially better than their dumbbell and their free weight counterparts. So keep in mind, machine training is great. Cable training is great. Free weight training is great. Do not think everything that you do with a free weight is

better. That is not true at all. Lean into machines. They can probably help most of you, whether you're a beginner or you're advanced. There's nothing wrong with machine training. There's a lot of ways that you can work it into your routine, how it can be applicable to you. It's a really good place to start. It's also a really good place for those of you who are advanced and need a high stimulus with a low fatigue. Number seven, not doing enough calf, core, forearm, and mobility work. These muscles don't sound very important. I might even throw the upper back and shoulder stability in here. But listen, your calves, your core, your forearms, your mobility, okay? These are not sexy. These are not fun things to train. It's not your

glutes. It's not your chest. It's not your arms. In fact, training calves is pretty damn boring. Training core is pretty damn shitty. It's like insufferable. It's miserable. Nobody really likes doing RKC planks, side planks, Copenhagen planks, hanging leg raises. Calf raises are as boring as it gets. You know, forearm work, grip work like farmer's carries or anything that trains the wrist flexors and extensors is really kind of boring. But these things specifically can really help you with protecting your back, with protecting your knees and ankles, protecting your elbows. And when I say protecting, I mean just generally strengthening those small muscles around those tissues that are asked to do a lot when you do your heavy compounds.

So yes, they are involved. No doubt about it. But we often don't give them any isolated work. We don't give them any love, any work on top of what we're doing with the bulk of our programming. And I have found that throwing in and sprinkling in just a little bit here and there can make a really big difference. As for your mobility, don't train it at your own risk, right? Many of you want to develop muscle. Many of you want to cultivate strength. Many of you want to move, look, and feel better. And

addressing your mobility and training your mobility will help a ton with that. You know what I believe? I believe full range of motion resistance training is the best kind of mobility training, but you might need something a little more specific, whether that be soft tissue work, whether that be stretching, whether that be dynamic stretching. Lots of ways to work on your mobility that don't take too much time. Number eight, this is such a killer. This is such a killer, and that is not planning out your

workouts at least one week in advance. If you can't look ahead at your calendar and know when your workouts are coming up, you're shooting yourself in the foot. When you put something on your calendar, you are so much more likely to stick to it. And I'm not saying that you need to find a place to work out seven days a week. We've talked a lot on this podcast about the many different ways that you can find time to work out, the many different routines that might work well with your specific situation. Maybe you're a two-day-a-week total body. Maybe you're six days a week push-pull legs. There are a lot of ways to do this, right? So one thing's for sure. If you put them on your calendar, these individual

sessions, you put your routine on your calendar, you find the time, there is a way greater likelihood that you will stick to it than if you just say, oh, I got to find time to work out today. Do not find the time, make the time. You've heard the meme a thousand times. I needn't reiterate it. Put that shit down on a calendar. Stick to it. It will really eliminate your ability to make excuses.

Number nine, always have a backup plan. Okay? Can't get to the gym? Find time to make a walk. Can't get to your workout? Have some weights at home, a TRX at home, things you can train with at home. Having a backup plan is huge. It is so, so valuable to always have a backup plan. The number of days where I have been on my way to the gym or about

to get in the car to go to the gym and shit just hits the fan and I have to go, damn, all right, what am I going to do? Okay, I know what I'll do. When I get finished with my day, I will walk out to my garage gym and I will bust my ass for 45 minutes. Not everybody has a garage gym. I get that. That can be a 45 minute walk. That can be going to the local high school or local park and doing some stair work, some footwork drills. You can find ways to train. You just have to be adaptable and you have to give yourself a backup plan, a contingency plan, a workaround. Set yourself up for success. Don't put yourself in a situation where you're only able to train, you're only able to be active, you're only able to move if you hit that one thing in your routine because there

will be adversity. And it is very, very important to be able to pivot when you are trying to change your physique, when you're trying to change your body, when you're trying to develop your health. You need to find ways to be adaptable because life is going to throw you some curveballs. And number 10, the last one, perhaps the uber mistake of all of these is don't forget to schedule time off from training. This is for those of you who train really hard. This is for those of you who are kind of the 10 out of 10. You're really invested in this kinds of people. You're probably going to the gym five, six days a week. Be sure to schedule deloads. Be sure to schedule vacations. Be sure to schedule opportunities away from the gym. be for the reason that you think. It's not for recovery. It's not to take care of your muscles and enhance growth. It's not for your joints. It's for your mind. It's for the love of the game. If you're like me and you've been doing this a long time, things can get a little stale.

And giving yourself some time apart from fitness, scheduling vacations where you, yeah, you might stop by the hotel gym a time or two, but it's not a necessity. You might go on a camping trip and do backpacking instead of lifting. Maybe you're going to the beach and you'll bring a TRX and throw it over a palm tree, but you're not going to go to the gym. Give yourself time to miss it. This is very rare that you'll ever hear me recommending against exercise, but I do think there are huge emotional benefits to taking breaks from the things we really love and enjoy. And I think what it will do for you more generally is set you up to keep the habit going and keep that fire burning hot. All right, guys, there you have it. 10 workout mistakes I strongly, strongly recommend

you do not make with your training. Okay. Number one, just to reiterate, don't skip sleep for workouts. Number two, try not to go too long without nourishing your body. Number one, just to reiterate, don't skip sleep for workouts. Number two, try not to go too long without nourishing your body. Number three, spend more on food than you do on supplements, not the other way around. Number four, go to the gym with a plan, write it down, and log it. Number five, pick the right workout partner. Number six, machine training is great. Don't be afraid to throw it in there. Number seven, don't skip the stuff that seems small.

It all matters. Number eight, be sure to schedule and plan your workouts on your calendar well in advance. Number nine, always have a backup plan. And number 10, give yourself time to recover. Thanks again, every single one of you for listening, for tuning in. If you have not yet, scroll down to the show notes, click the button to leave a review. It takes two minutes and it helps other people find helpful fitness advice. I am very, very committed to my journey, to my purpose of helping more people find fitness through resistance training, through eating a well-balanced, well-rounded, non-restrictive diet. I want people to live longer and live healthier and fight back against chronic disease with lifting, with constructive, proactive approaches to food and activity. That's what it's all about, guys. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll catch you on the next one.